Over the last several months, millions and millions of people all across Syria have come out in repeated mass actions to demand an end to U.S. and foreign interference and to defeat the U.S. plot to “regime change” the Syrian government.

This powerful resistance movement has been growing since the spring when U.S.-backed counter-revolutionary groups began launching armed attacks on Syrian army and police.

U.S.-sponsored “dissident organizations” devoted to overthrowing the constitutional government of Syria have been launching attacks on Syrian security forces since March. The opposition openly agitates for the armed overthrow of the constitutional government and several leaders have repeatedly called for foreign intervention. Their tactics include attempts to incite civil strife through violent street actions with the aim of causing disturbances big enough to “justify” foreign intervention to “restore peace.” On December 6, Burhan Ghalioun, the head of the opposition “Syrian National Council” met with U.S. Secretary of State Clinton in Paris to discuss the SNC plan for the “future of Syria.” According to Clinton, “there are many very constructive ideas in it, because obviously, a democratic transition includes more than removing the Assad regime.” Amongst other things, the SNC pledged that after overthrowing the Syrian government, it would immediately cut off ties with Iran as well as Palestinian and Lebanese liberation organizations, and would work to “stabilize” the region in alliance with other U.S. client regimes such as in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The U.S. government is financing and organizing the opposition forces operating in Syria through the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Republican Institute as well as through the U.S. State Department. For example, according to a report in the Washington Post in April the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative had already funneled $6 million to a London based “Syrian dissident organization” called the “Movement for Justice and Development.” In addition, the U.S. government and the monopoly-controlled media have for a long time carried on propaganda trying to vilify the Syrian government as a “violator of human rights,” a “rogue regime,” etc. This propaganda is a constant part of the arsenal used by U.S. imperialism against countries targeted for subversion and attack. The purpose is to incite public opinion against Syria and justify U.S. pressure and interference.

Despite the universally known fact that Syrian “rebels” are carrying out armed attacks against the Syrian government and openly embrace U.S. imperialism’s program of “regime change,” the Obama administration is turning truth on its head by depicting the opposition as “peaceful freedom fighters.” By placing the mantle of “peace” and “democracy” on the opposition, the Obama administration hopes not only to legitimize the so-called rebels, but also to associate itself with a “democratic revolution” in the Middle East in order to fool the naive into believing that U.S. imperialism has changed its ways and is suddenly a force for peace and democracy in the region. In this way, the U.S. would like to cause the peoples to forget about the history and ongoing program of U.S. intervention in the Middle East. To forget that it is U.S. imperialism which is the number one exploiter and oppressor of the peoples of the region. To forget that it is U.S. imperialism which deploys warships in the waters of the region and which has its nuclear missiles pointed at major cities on every single continent. To forget that it is U.S. imperialism which has set up dozens of military bases stretching from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. To forget that it is U.S. imperialism which is waging wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and supporting its surrogate, Israel, to wage war against Palestine, etc., so forth.

U.S. imperialism is continuing to deepen its “proxy” war of aggression against the Syrian people and aims to “regime change” the government there and replace it with a U.S. client regime. The danger of a dramatic escalation of the war in the immediate future is very real. To achieve its goal of recolonizing the region, imperialism’s strategy is to suppress the resistance struggles and liberation movements of the Arab peoples and to “regime change” every government which asserts any independence from the U.S. Since 2001 the plan has been to conquer Iraq, suppress the Palestinian and Lebanese liberation struggles in order to secure imperialism’s rear, and to attack Syria and Iran. For years the U.S. has been preparing for war against Syria including by going as far as to designate Syria as part of an “axis of evil” and a target of preemptive nuclear strikes. Twice since 2003, the U.S. used its surrogate Israel to carry out airstrikes against Syria and U.S. troops based in Iraq launched an attack on Syrian territory in 2008. The Obama administration’s current reliance on armed “dissident organizations” in Syria is nothing but a change of name, a change of face for U.S. interference and aggression against Syria.

On the basis of “Might Makes Right,” Obama has simply declared that “Assad must go.” According to this logic, Obama reserves for U.S. imperialism the right to determine which countries are “democratic” and “good” and which are “guilty” and must be targeted for “regime change.” Once again, U.S. imperialism is flaunting international law and asserting its “right” to be judge, jury and executioner of the peoples.

But the brazen fascism of U.S. imperialism cannot cover over its grave weaknesses and its extreme isolation. Despite years of military threats, economic sanctions, plots, etc., etc., U.S. imperialism remains unable to overthrow the Syrian government. In Syria the struggle against foreign aggression and interference is uniting the overwhelming majority of people. The people are rallying in defense of the country’s sovereignty and demanding an end to all foreign intervention, subversion and aggression against the government. The struggle of the Syrian government and people to defend its sovereign rights in the face of U.S. pressure is not only a just struggle for independence, but also a just struggle which contributes to the defense of peace, international law and the rights of all nations.

The American working class and progressive public opinion around the world must remain vigilant and active against U.S. imperialism’s policy of pressure, dictate, interference and aggression in Syria. As U.S. imperialism hatches new plots and intrigues against Syria, let us demand ever more vigorously that “U.S. Imperialism, Get Out of Syria Lock, Stock, and Barrel!”